Russian Ballet International will present its annual Bolshoi Ballet Academy Summer Intensive programs in Australia, Italy and Russia. 2018 will kick off in Sydney, where the Australia Summer Intensive will be held at the Bondi Beach Pavilion, in partnership with the Waverley Council, from January 2-13. Later in the year, the Intensive will be offered in Florence, Italy, and in Urbino, Italy, in July, followed by Moscow, for a five-week session held July 23-August 24.
Bolshoi Ballet Academy. Photo by Sila Avaakum.
Director Davis Robertson says he hopes participants will take away “a solid learning from the best classical ballet teachers in the world and a great sense of accomplishment and self-confidence.”
In Sydney, two levels will be offered. The Young Dancer Program, for students ages eight through 13, is geared toward dancers with basic ballet knowledge through intermediate level dancers. This program is focused on a proper foundation for classical ballet training while engaging dancers’ natural instinct to move to music. Students will take classes in ballet, pre-pointe, character and Bolshoi stretching. The Ballet Intensive, for students ages 12-25, is for intermediate to advanced level students. Classes will include ballet, pointe, variations, character and Bolshoi stretching, all taught by the Bolshoi Ballet Academy’s master teachers. Dancers in this program will be observed for acceptance into the full year program at the Academy.
For the one-week intensive in Florence, held this July 9-13, 2018, students will take three dance classes per day, Monday through Friday, and study ballet technique, repertoire, pointe, character dance and Bolshoi stretching. Classes will be held at the Hamyln School, one of the oldest ballet schools, located right in the heart of Florence.
Bolshoi Ballet Academy. Photo by Dmitry Rozin.
The summer program will also be held in Urbino, Italy, from July 16-27, as well as a Teacher Training program in Urbino, from July 16-20.
The Bolshoi Ballet Academy Summer Intensive will finish off with its five-week session in Moscow, July 23-August 24. Classes, housing and meals are all offered at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, and students will take three classes a day in ballet technique, pointe, repertoire, character and Bolshoi stretching. For additional fees, students may also take advantage of great opportunities such as weekend sightseeing trips with translators and tour guides. Participants may register for anywhere from one week to the full five-week program. The Moscow program is geared toward students who wish to become professional dancers, Robertson says.
Bolshoi Ballet Academy. Photo by Dmitry Rozin.
Teachers for all of the Summer Intensives are master teachers from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, including Irina Pyatkina, an honoured artist of the Russian Federation. “After graduating from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in 1978, Irina Pyatkina was right away invited to join the Bolshoi Ballet Theatre,” Robertson explains. “There, she worked with renowned and world famous pedagogues and rehearsal directors such as Galina Ulanova, Marina Kondratieva and Raisa Struchkova.”
Pyatkina worked at the Bolshoi Theatre for 20 years and performed leading roles as a principal dancer. Following her performance career, she was invited to join the faculty of her alma mater, the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. In 2005, Pyatkina received the title of Master Teacher from the Academy, where she is currently a faculty member of the classical ballet department and teaches classes in ballet technique, pointe and repertoire, and has taught master classes all over the world.
Bolshoi Ballet Academy. Photo by Sila Avaakum.
“The program is taught in a combination of French, the language of ballet, and Russian and English,” Robertson says. “There are translators there for the students who have trouble with the Russian. The goal in making a student familiar with a foreign language is to assist in their personal growth and education. The practical aspect of assisting the students in understanding the Russian spoken in ballet class is to make them familiar with what it would be like in Moscow.”
Participants from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy Summer Intensives do have future possibilities open to them, including year-round study at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow. In addition, performance opportunities are offered at the end of the intensive, where students will perform both classical variations and character dance.
Students can still register for the Bolshoi Ballet Academy Summer Intensives in Italy and Moscow. Upcoming auditions will be held in Lugano (February 10), Florence (February 18), Mexico (February 23), Sicily (March 11), Gaeta (March 17), Hong Kong (April 8) and more. There is also an option to audition via video submission.
For more information and a full list of audition cities (or information on submitting video auditions), head to www.russianballetinternational.com.
By Laura Di Orio of Dance Informa.
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